From urban vacancy to public green: a case of commoning in Partinico (Palermo)

Accounting for the "actually existing commons" (Eizenberg 2011) implies not just looking at what are perceived as common goods as products/acts of urban reclaiming but also as collective learning process on them. Mainstream contributions about the commons need a more serious engagement with the role of place and institutions, notably in contexts shaped by the serious lack of institutional structures, like Sicily. Following this approach, how can we explain the case of Villa San Pio in Partinico where there was no antihegemonic uprising because institutional actors lack? After several unreturned requests to the city council, the residents created a spontaneous committee for the management and maintenance of the Villa in 2008, turning this area into a "common place" beyond any municipal norm. The paper relies on field notes and other qualitative methods to show how the residents created a new concept of commons, while challenging the merely positive conception of commoning, thus highlighting potential critical issues.